Obituaries

Stage and Screen Performer Mary Healy Has Died at 96

The actress is known for making dozens of screen appearances and starring on Broadway opposite Orson Welles.

Editorial Staff
New York City
Actress Mary Healy has died.
Actress Mary Healy has died.

Broadway veteran and screen favorite Mary Healy died on February 3 at a health care facility in Calabasas, CA. The actress and singer was 96.

Healy was born on April 14, 1918 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Winner of the 1935 Miss New Orleans pageant, Healy made her first (uncredited) screen appearance in Josette in 1938. She went on to act in Second Fiddle (1939), Star Dust (1940), Strictly in the Groove (1942) and many more films.

In 1942, Healy made her Broadway debut in Walter Kerr's musical revue Count Me In. Her Broadway career went on to include a main role in Cole Porter's Around the World, which also starred Orson Welles, as well as appearances in Common Ground (1945) and Who Was That Lady I Saw You With? (1958).

Healy married Peter Lind Hayes, a performer she met in Los Angeles, in 1940. The two remained married and performed together almost exclusively until Hayes' death in 1998. One of their best known films, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953), is a musical fantasy written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss).

The duo also starred together in several television projects, including The Peter Lind Hayes Show (1950) and Star of the Family (1950-1952). They led the cast of the 1960 NBC situation comedy Peter Loves Mary. In 1961, the couple published the memoir Twenty-Five Minutes From Broadway.

Healy is survived by a daughter, Cathy Lind Hayes, and son, Peter Michael Hayes.